Solomon's Scrapbook- “LET US LOOK FORWARD”—“The Past is Past,” Look to the Future

A Timely Sermon at the Hasell Street Synagogue– “The Past is Past,” Look to the Future

Rabbi David Levy delivered one of his most interesting and striking sermons yesterday morning at Hasell Street Synagogue. His ideas were all advanced with peculiar force and eloquence.

The text was taken from the verses from Exodus and Ecciesiasties: “The Lord said unto Moses why cry unto me, speaking with the children of Israel that they go forward, and thou must not say “how is it the former times were better than these.”

The theme upon which Mr. Levy laid special emphasis was that man was not put into this world to look backwards upon his past, and dwell on and lament his failures. The past was, he said, merely a lessen an a guide of what the future will be. The Mr. Levy drew his conclusions, upon which he elaborated at considerable length.

Why should not man lament lost opportunities? Simply for the reason that they are past and cannot be forgotten. Man, he remarked, could not have a second birth. He had no opportunity of living for the purpose of repairing what he had neglected during his first life.

He then showed how the past should really influence us. It should by recalling to us the memory of lost opportunities serve as an impulse and make us improve the present. We must not look back upon our past failures and moan and groan because our present is less bright. While the spirit of conservatism is health in many ways, the doctrine of “let well enough alone” has done much towards impending civilization as open and aggressive opposition or destruction, said

Mr. Levy.

The minister then showed how this spirit of “let well enough alone” had made many cities assume a graveyard aspect and antediluvian spirit. This had been caused by an orthodox belief and contentment of things as they are and a pride in things as they were. Following up this line Mr. Levy said that what many cities wanted was tonic and stimulant. They did not so much need new blood as a withdrawal of the stagnant blood. There was not so much need of immigration of new elements as removal of a great deal of the old leaven; incidentally he remarked that a dozen respectable funerals would be a speedy cure for La Grippe of self-satisfaction, which has taken hold of some of the communities.

Then the minister applied his text to the loss of members of our family. “We could not recall the dead , neither could we repair the neglect towards them. The only way to do is to let our neglect to the dead cause us to redouble our zeal in the duties we owe the living. It is not right to give up in despair. No man can tell what the development of his life may bring forth. Mr. Levy made quite an interesting statement when he said that. “There is the thought, not to be overlooked or despised, concerning the value of this life and the bearing they may have on the future, that is, our actions in this body may give form and complexion to the life that shall live in another body hereafter.” May this not be the best solution of the riddle of life and the problem of reward and punishment, he asked. Every joy we experience, every pain we endure, are but the consequences of a preceding course of action.

He then expatiated on the problem of reward and punishment, and explained that according to this view men should be anxious for the future, not that a sin here must pay the eternal penance of torture thereafter, and not that virtue will find its reward among the harps and crowns of winged angels, but the consequences of many acts here will find their dues in a continuation of that life in the same form as was lived and acted here. We should live, he said, for the more glorious future, when the secrets of this life shall be revealed, and the mysteries of this human and devine problem of existence shall be laid bare before the wondering eyes and hungry hearts of humanity.